Siblings - best friends or mortal enemies?

Brothers and sisters. Best friends one moment, and mortal enemies the next!
Bonding over MinecraftBonding over Minecraft
Bonding over Minecraft

And it is a cycle that I don’t think will ever change as I see history repeating itself with my own children doing exactly the same as I did with my brother when we were little.

As I write this my son and daughter are playing beautifully together and I can hear them chatting and laughing away while they are lost in the world of Minecraft.

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They are constructing new worlds and going on an interactive adventure together which means that, this morning at least, they are the very best of friends.

But of course I know it can change in a split second, and world war three can often begin in the time it takes me to get to the bottom of the stairs.

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I have left a room where they have been perfectly happy together, but by the time I have descended down the stairs or gone into the next room there has been a full blown argument where they now hate each other and never want to play with each other again.

Usually it would be her singing, or his putting his leg into her space which would be the trigger for the temporary peace treaty between them to be over.

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And of course I remember that it was exactly the same when me and my not-so-little-anymore brother were playing together.

We could spend hours playing Sonic the Hedgehog or ToeJam & Earl together, and were as thick as thieves when it came to attempting (often unsuccessfully) to persuade our parents that we just needed ‘a few more minutes’ to finish a level before coming down to tea.

I’ve lost count of the amount of times my little pickles have pleaded ‘just a few more minutes’ together with me.

Of course in a similar pattern, my brother and I would then have a massive falling out over something which was probably not that important and we would be back to hating each other for the afternoon. Tiny things would turn into massive arguments as we irritated each other for hours, most especially on long car journeys where we had no escape from each other.

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Thank goodness for portable DVD players, tablets and headphones so that I am at least largely spared that drama with my own children!

While my girl still largely looks up to her big brother, officially my boy ‘hates’ my girl. Irritating little sister and all of that (apparently).

But that has not stopped him getting into a panic and being really concerned when she hurts herself. It also has not stopped him laughing uncontrollably as the tiny comedian-in-the-making does something amusing to entertain us - which she does on a regular basis.

And of course if anyone was to hurt his little sister at school I know her would be straight over there to make sure she was okay and stick up for her making them best friends again. Well, for two minutes at least!